Most everyone's heard that necessity is the mother of invention. But what about the father? Some might say it's greed, but I'd go with opportunity that always comes knocking. In any event, most everything that's invented, from the very complex to the seemingly plain and ordinary is the offspring of the two.
What most people probably have not heard of is a bygone litmus test for the patentability of inventions known as the Flash of Genius Doctrine. Invoked in 1941 and lasting a little more than a decade, it determined whether an idea suddenly whacked someone like a garden rake to the head or was the result of testing, tinkering and such.
It's now the name of a movie, "Flash of Genius," where such a question comes up in legal proceedings regarding the invention and thus who owned the patent on the intermittent windshield wiper. While most of us use that very helpful invention to handle light rain and road-spray, the story regarding the legal fight over it might not sound terribly exciting. After all, there are no corporate murders, chase sequences or related material one might find in a thriller such as "The Firm" where an idealistic young employee realizes he works for a shady, corrupt and quite powerful organization.
Granted, such a story doesn't necessarily need such artificial constructs to make it work. After all, this one has a sympathetic lead character (nicely played by Greg Kinnear) who goes to and through hell and back while fighting for his work, and that puts a strain on his relationship with his wife (Lauren Graham) and their kids. There's also the tried and true underdog element where Dennis Kearns learns as an outsider turned insider turned outsider again that the giant he must face is none other than the Ford Motor Company. In short, it's a David vs. Goliath tale that benefits from the true angle of its story.
Regarding the latter and considering that domestic auto sales are in the tank and that the corporation in the film repeatedly tries settling with Kearns without every admitting guilt, it would be interesting to see if anyone from the current company tried the same to get this film to go away (as it will be nothing but bad, if old PR for them in these tough economic times).
Then again, they probably have little to worry about as this little flick -- that feels like a TV movie that's somehow escaped to the big screen -- will probably make next to no splash as it lacks the sort of dramatic or emotional gravitas to make it stand out. Working from the New Yorker article by John Seabrook about the real-life case, screenwriter Philip Railsback and producer turned first-time director Marc Abraham deliver a decent bit of history-based entertainment. Yet, it ends up being just as mundane and repetitive as the handy, but let's admit it, decidedly less than sexy invention it revolves around.
It certainly doesn't help that the filmmakers, feeling the need to follow to some degree the real chronology of events, have the story play for a bit and then jump ahead in time, and then repeat that cycle several times. As a result, dramatic momentum is severely stymied, and while Kinnear is good in the part, he simply doesn't have the material supporting him, beyond the default settings of the premise, to make us really root for his character and his quest.
While I'm usually not one in favor of making up things in the telling of true-life tales, the lack of oomph here necessitates some sort of narrative invention to bolster the drama and make it more interesting. As it stands, it's all competently done, but it's as instantly forgettable as your wipers' work once your car is turned off. "Flash of Genius" needs a bit more of its titular substance and thus rates as just a 5 out of 10.
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